Today, I went to climb Mount Longonot for, yes the 5th time with Gik. We managed to accomplish climbing up and down in less than 2 hours, but then spent about an hour more gathering rocks and wild flowers. (Rocks for his aquarium and flowers for his garden). We decided to have an early lunch before he had to go off for his next embassy event. Ta Pau chinese food back to his place and we agreed since i have to work, i'll stay at his place with my laptop while he go for his event. Pretty normal day until...
As he was leaving the house... A SCREAM, A woman wailing in hysterics and a child crying... We got out of the house immediately to see what was going on. We saw a woman, Indian shouting and wailing and muttering complete nonsense. She was obviously in a state of shock... we couldnt quite fathom what was going on until I ventured a little nearer and saw, a young boy, bleeding from his face, lying down in someone's arms. The woman was shouting for someone to fetch her kid to the hospital so Gik immediately took his car and ferried the woman, her child and the father away. Before he left, he turned to me and told me to call his embassy friends to tell them what was going on and he would be late. I nodded and headed back to the house the minute he drove off.
When I walked up to his door, still grappling with the intense and rapid events that have just occured... CRAP. Gik's house door was the kind that locks itself automatically when it gets closed so I was essentially locked out. I ran to the gate to see if I can still catch him, but he had already sped off. Went up to the security staff of the compound and asked for a spare key. Unfortunately, as it was a sunday, the office was not open. So here I was, in my shorts and t-shirt, no phone, no money, no freaking clue what to do or how to get inside. I know I can't ask Gik to come back because he will be busy with the family. It was a hot afternoon and I have no place to go nor any means to get anywhere. I was truly stumped.
I started circling the compound looking for a way in to his place. After 15 minutes have passed, I borrowed a phone and Thank God that I took the time to remember Gik's number, the only number I remember in the whole of Nairobi... (besides mine). No answer. CRAP
And then.. Epiphany... (ok before I go on about my Epiphany, let me first explain the layout of Gik's house). The compound he stays in spreads across a large area and there are several 4 storey buildings. The compound is surrounded by vegetation with tall trees and grasses and flowers planted here and there. There are 2 types of houses in here, one where you have to walk up the stairs to the front door and one where you can walk directly to when you arrive. Gik's house is the latter, so you walk in from the driveway and go into his living room and kitchen and then you walk down the stairs where it has his bedrooms and toilets. It's not a basement because if you open the window in one of the rooms below, you see grass and trees and flowers. Why is all this important? Back to Epiphany...
Gik has a patio where he keeps his other smaller fish tanks and it was located on the lower floor. I know the Patio connects to the lower floor of his house cause I've seen the door before. In my mind, "Maybe he didnt lock it?"
So, now I begin the search for his patio, which I first have to find a way that leads from the driveway to the vegetation below. Once I found a walking path, I followed the direction towards his house. Once the walking path stopped, I continued cutting through the grass and trees to search for the right patio. Shouldnt be difficult because his was probably the only ones with small fish tanks. Within 5 minutes I found it.
At first, I saw the bars and I was like, shit. I cant squeeze through those. Then I looked closer and saw there was a small gate to the patio. Ah ha! Thankfully, Gik wasnt the kind to lock his patio gate so I just swung it open and stepped into the patio. Then i bend down and tried my luck at the door leading to his bedrooms. Dang, he locked it. Of course he would lock it.
A feeling of disappointment hit me and I wandered back up to the surface ready to contemplate my next few hours of mindless wandering before Gik return. After 10 minutes...
EPIPHANY again! Havent we always seen or read about how to pick locks and how to get the keys if it was still in the hole? No harm trying right?
I went back again, knelt down to the key hole. YESH! His key was still in the key hole. Now to look around for something to catch the key if I can push it out. Took a big banana leaf but it wasnt flat enough to fit underneath the door... I looked around. YESH! Gik's fish tanks came with stuff and part of it... a small fish net. Perfect, i took it up and fit it through the door, went through perfectly. GREAT.
My confidence surged and I then looked around for something hard which i can use to pick the lock. Dang, nothing metal around and I dont have anything on me... but wait... these twigs look sturdy and hard enough. Broke a few twigs off and then patiently picked the lock to push the key out... After 10 minutes of gentle prodding, I managed to get the key to be in the right position and used my makeshaft pick made of twigs to push the keys off to the floor!
It landed, beautifully as planned. On to the net. Now all I did next was to pull the net back to me and lo and behold, the keys were there. I unlocked the door and stepped into the house. Did a private mental bow, a private little jiggle, and with a big grin... walked up to my phone to finish what I needed to do and call Gik's Thai embassy colleague to relay the news.
After that, typed a msg to Mr Gik.. "Hi, you have received some missed calls from foreign numbers, that was just me trying to tell you I was locked out of the house. But I managed to break back in so no worries. Let me know how the kid is. Cheers."
I then went on to enjoy my afternoon of quiet work and light movies. When Gik returned home and his first question was, how did you do it?! The boy was fine, it was just superficial injuries but it was the mother that needed calming down. After Gik told me his side of his adventure, we then went down for me to show him how i pulled the grand break-in off. Needless to say, he was stumped and amazed at the feat I pulled and the devices I used. He was completely amused and yet stumped. Yes, stumped is the right word to use for that expression on his face. Priceless.
Yes, I am still doing my mental bow and little jiggle and still wearing this great grin because I now have "breaking-in to locked doors" to add to my repertoire of skills.
1 comment:
tee hee .. i broke into my own house before as well, i know how you feel .. :)
Yay!
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